PHANEROGAM/E— PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 105 



Soeotra. Near Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 713. 



Distrib. Common in all warmer regions of the globe. 



Order XXXIII. UMBELLIFER.E. 



A very large order, most numerously represented in the temperate and 

 cooler regions of the northern hemisphere. Five genera are found in Soeotra. 

 One of these is endemic, and the others are genera of considerable range 

 in both old and new worlds, or in the old world alone. 



1. HYDROCOTYLE. 



Hydrocotyle, Linn. Gen. n. 325 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 872. 



A large genus dispersed over the warmer and temperate regions of the globe. 



H. asiatica, Linn. Sp. 338 ; Hiern in Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. iii. 6 ; Clarke 

 in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 669 ; Wight Ic. t. 565. 



Soeotra. On the banks of many streams. B.C.S. n. 390. Schweinf. n. 590. 

 Distrtb. Tropical and subtropical districts. 



2. NIRARATHAMNOS. 



Nirarathamnos, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 513. 



Calycis dentes minuti, acuti. Petala lata acumine longo bificlo induplicato, ob costam impressam 

 emarginata. Discus margine subcrenato cum stylopodiis conicis confluens; styli breves. 

 Fructus ovoideus, utrinque ad commissuram angustam constrictus; carpella 5-gona; juga 

 primaria prominula, subaequalia, exalata ; vittte ad valleculas solitaries. Carpophorum 

 bipartitum. Semen semiteres, ad vittas sulcatum, facie leviter concavum. — Suffrutex 

 lignosus, rigidus, glaberrimus, aromaticus. Folia rotundata, margine revoluta, crenata, 

 reticulato-venosa. UmbellcB compositae pauci-radiatae. Involucri et involucellorum 

 bractese subfoliacece persistentes radiantes. Flores albo-virentes, pedicellati. 



A new monotypic genus, nearly allied to the naturally limited Bupleurum. 

 Indeed the plant appears almost a member of that genus. But the form of 

 its petals, the conical and not flattened stylopod, and the non-compressed 

 fruit separate it sufficiently. The shrubby habit it presents is not common 

 in Bupleurum, although it is occasionally seen. 



The name is derived from the hero of a legend connected with the spot 

 where we discovered the plant. This is near the summit of the Sicante ridge 

 of the Haghier range, in a gorge at an altitude of nearly 4000 feet. Spanning 

 the chasm is a large granite boulder, regarding which the following legend, 

 which I quote from an account of the island given by Captain Hunter in the 

 Bombay Gazette for May 1876, is related : — ■" On the lofty granite peaks, in 

 former times, there dwelt a ,man Nisara, with his wife Nowseoo. They were 

 of gigantic stature, and each ate half an ox at every meal. They had a son 



TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN. VOL. XXXI. 



